Machine for sewing on buttons

ABSTRACT

Machine for sewing on buttons comprising a button clamp and a material carrier, both of which are connected with a common control device driven by the machine to effect horizontal movements, which operates by switching a transmission (23, 24, 27, 28, 29) to the transfer of the drive for the material carrier (45), that is connected with a second control device (56) driven by the machine.

[ 51 Aug. 1,1972

United States Patent Albrecht et a1.

Nelson.............,..........

[541 MACHINE FOR SEWING ON BUTTONS [72] Inventors: Ernst Albrecht, Hochspeyer; Walter 2,511,367 6/1950 112/112 2,635,569 4/1953 Krohn.............. ...1.12/1l4 3,509,838 5/1970 Brown 112/110 Hager, Erlenbach, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Firma G. M. Plat! AG, Kaiserslau- Primary Examiner jordan Franklinv em/Hall Germany Assistant ExaminerG. V. Larkin 1 Filedl y 29, 1970 Attorney-Robert H. Jacob [21] App]. No.: 59,113

[57] ABSTRACT Machine for sewing on buttons comprising a button [30] Foreign Application Priority Data clamp and a material carrier, both of which are con- Aug. 2, 1969 Germany.............G 69 30 735.3

nected with a common control device driven by the machine to effect horizontal movements, which operates by switching'a transmission (23, 24, 27, 28, 29) to the transfer of the drive for the material carrier (45), that is connected with a second control device (56) driven by the machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures 8/1945 Maxant..... ..........1 12 112 MACHINE FOR SEWING ON BUTTONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to sewing machines, particularly machines for sewing on buttons. More in particular, the invention is concerned with a machine for sewing on buttons having a button clamp and a material support, both of which are connected with a common control device driven by the machine for carrying out their horizontal movements.

If with known machines of this type, buttons are sewn blindly on the sewing material that consists of several layers of material, there usually forms a fold in the material as the button is sewn on. This fold is formed because it is necessary for sewing on a button to penetrate, if possible, the entire thickness of the folded v SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, a device is to be provided by means of which it is avoided to a great extent that folds form in the sewing material when buttons are sewed on blindly. For this purpose there is to be superimposed onto the material support with the sewing material that moves together with the button clamp in one direction of movement during the operation of sewing on the button a further movement in the same direction.

In accordance with the invention this is accomplished by introducing a gear or transmission in the transfer of the drive onto the material support which is connected with a second control device driven by the machine.

In accordance with a further proposal of the invention, a structurally favorable arrangement is obtained in that the movement transmission to the material support two sliding bars are arranged that extend parallel to one another which have toothed interengagement and are each in engagement with a toothed gear, at least one of which and the associated guide bar is obliquely meshed, while the toothed gears are secured to a shaft that is in operative engagement with a cam disk and is displaceably journalled.

Suitably the toothed gears and their associated slide bars are equipped with equally large, but oppositely extending oblique toothing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings in which FIG. 1 is a rear view of the machine,

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration indicating the additional control for the displacement of the material partly in section,

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate successive steps in the operation of sewing on buttons,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged representation of a section through the transmission gear between the control disk and the drive lever for the button clamp, and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the joint member of the transmission.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The machine illustrated is a sewing machine for sewing on buttons with a standard 1 (FIG. 1) an upper arm 2 and a lower arm 3. The arm shaft which is not illustrated is journalled in the upper arm 2, which serves for driving the stitch forming components and by means of known connecting members such as pinions, guiding shafts etc. for driving the looper and auxiliary looper shaft journalled in the lower arm 3. The arm shaft is connected with a drive motor by way of a coupling 4 and a drive belt 5, below a work plate 6 that supports the machine.

The coupling 4 comprises in a known manner an idling disk 7 loosely journalled on the arm shaft, and a drive disk 8 securely connected with the arm shaft. Over a shifting lever 9 which is rotatably mounted on the standard 1, on which a brake 10 and a belt guide 11 are provided, the drive belt 5 can be changed over from the idling disk 7 to the drive disk 8. The shifting lever 9 which is in the form of an joint lever has an end 12 projecting into the path of movement of a connecting lever 13 rotatably mounted on the standard 1. This lever is controlled by way of a connection constructed in a manner known per se and serves for coupling the drive motor to member 21 arm shaft while simultaneously the mechanically operating brake 10 is swung over.

The arm shaft drives a control shaft 14 by way of a step-down gear. A control disk 15 is secured to the shaft which guides the displacement movement of the button clamp member 17 by way of a control cam 16 (FIG. 6). For this purpose the control cam 16 displaces a double carn lever 18 by way of a stud 71 secured to it and which projects into the control cam 16. The double lever 18 is rotatably journalled by means of a shaft 72 in a bearing block 73 that is fastened to the lower arm 3 of the machine by means of screws 74. Two parallel lugs 20 of double lever 18 constitute the guide track for a joint member 21 which is adjustably secured to a bar 22. Bar 22 is rigidly connected with a slide bar 23 which together with a further slide bar 24 extending parallel thereto, are guided in a guide member 25 secured in the lower arm 3. The joint member 21 is in the form of a shell body (FIG. 7) whose walls that extend perpendicularly to shaft 72 are provided with bores 76 to accommodate a cylinder 77. A bore in cylinder 77 receives the bar 22. The position of the joint member 21 on the bar 22 can be secured by means of a screw 79 in the threaded bore 80.

In the bearing 26 of the guide member 25 two bores are provided in which a shaft 27 is displaceably journalled. Two toothed gears 28 and 29 are mounted on shaft 27 which have oppositely extending oblique teeth 30, 31 which are in engagement with corresponding oblique toothing 32, 33 of the slide bars 23, 24. The toothed gears 28, 29 are each shorter by the displacement part of the shaft 27 than the width of the slide bars 23 and 24 so that during displacement they always remain in engagement with the associated toothing 32 and 33.

The shaft 27 projects at one end 34 from the bore 35a so that it can engage structure for displacing the shaft 27 to be described later. The other end of shaft 27 is provided with a bore 27a in which a part of the spring 36 comes to rest, which at one end is supported against the end of a bore 35 in bearing 26 and at the other end against the end of bore 27a in shaft 27.

At the end of the slide bar 24 proximate the stitchforming location of the sewing machine, an abutment 37 is mounted by means of a screw 37a abutment 37 has an abutment edge 38 with a semi-circular recess 39 for passage of the needle 40. The latter is supported in a known manner in the needle bar guided in the upper arm 2. The abutment 37 has a downwardly extending lug 41 to which a latch 43 is linked that engages the abutment 42 that is secured to the lower arm 3 by its own gravity or by spring biasing.

A lever 44 is pivotally connected to the work plate 6 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The lever 44 supports a plate in the form of a material carrier 45 over which the material 46 to be sewn comes to rest (see also FIGS. 3 and 4), and whose edge 47 facing the abutment 37 is provided with a semi-circular recess 48 for passage of the needle 40. The arm 49 of the lever 44 supports a stud 50 which is adapted to engage a slot 51 of the latch 43. For limiting the deflection movement, the lever 44 has an abutment arm 52 which in the end position rests against the work plate 6.

The button clamp 17 is pivotally connected with a clamp support 53 which is secured to the slide bar 23. At its free end it is provided with two clamping jaws 55 for-seizing a button 54.

A cam disk 56 having a cam track 57 is secured on the shaft 14 against which rests a roller 59 journalled on a lever arm 58. The lever arm 58 is secured on a shaft 60 which is journalled in bearing eyelets 61 connected with the upper arm 2 and carries a further lever arm 62. A setting screw 63 threadedly received in the free end of the lever arm 62 extends toward the end 34 of the shaft 27 which is supported against the setting screw 63 under pressure from spring 36.

The button clamp 17 is connected by way of a connecting member 64 (FIG. 1) with a lifting bar 65 guided in the upper arm 2. Upon the part of the lifting bar 65 located inside the upper arm 2, a clamp element 65a is secured which is threadedly engaged by arm 66. Arm 66 is bent in a manner that it projects with its free end through a slot 67 in the upper arm 2. The end of the arm 66 which is located on the outside supports a pin 68 under which extends a part of a double lever 69 journalled on the upper arm 2 which in a manner known per se is connected with a foot treadle, not illustrated.

The arrangement operates as follows:

Upon turning on the drive motor, the drive belt 5 runs on the idling disk 7. By actuating the double lever 69 by way of a first foot pedal (not illustrated), the arm 66 of the lifting bar 65 is raised together with the button clamp 17. A button 54 may now be introduced between the opened clamping jaws 55 of the button clamp 17.

Upon releasing the latch 43, lever 44 swings toward the operator, and the material 46 to be sewn may be placed around the edge 47 of the material carrier 45. By swinging the material carrier 45 toward the abutment 37, the sewing material 46 is moved to the stitchforming location, while the material carrier 45 becomes latched by engagement of the stud in the latch slot 51' and is thus connected with the slide bar 24.

Upon lowering of the button clamp 17, the connecting lever 13 is actuated by means of the second foot pedal for starting movement of the machine by way of a control connection (not illustrated). The connecting lever 13 rocks the switching lever 9 whereby the belt guide 11 shifts the drive belt 5 from the idling disk 7 onto the drive disk 8 and simultaneously releases the mechanically operating brake 10 from the drive disk 8.

Upon completion of the coupling, the working operation controlled by the disk 15 takes place automatically. The control disk 15 in this connection rocks the double lever 18 by way of control cam 16 and stud 71. Double lever 18 turns out the link member 21 that is disposed between lugs 20. The cylinder-77 journalled in the socket takes along the bar 22 and pushes the slide bar 23 back and forth by way of the bar 22 in the direction of the axis of the lower arm 3 of the machine. Thus, the button clamp 17 connected with the slide bar 23 is carried along to the same extent by way of the support 53.

As a result of engagement between the oblique toothing 30 and 32 of the slide bar 23 and of the toothed gear 28, a predetermined path of displacement of the slide bar 23 effects a predetermined angular rotation of the toothed gear 28 so that the toothed gear 29 rigidly connected therewith turns by the same amount, and thus effects a shifting of the slide bar 24 which coincides with the magnitude of the displacement path of the slide bar 23. Thus the slide bar 24 effects the same sliding movement as the button clamp 17 which is displaced with the slide bar 24. The abutment 37 secured to the slide bar oblique as well as the material support connected with abutment 37 by way of latch 43 and arm 49 of lever arm 44 also participate identically in the sliding movement of the button toothing 17.

In this manner the machine sews several stitches whereby the control cam 16 of the control disk 15 displaces the slide bars 23, 24 by way of double lever 18 and the bar 22 in the manner described. Also the button clamp 17 with button 54 and the abutment 37 as well as material carrier 45 are displaced in the axial direction of the lower arm 3 together with the slide bars 23, 24 so that several stitches are sewn while the mutual positions of button 54 and sewing material 46 are coordinated as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Upon completion of the stitch, the cam track 57 of the cam disk 56 moves the shaft 27 in axial direction by way of lever arms 58 and 62 and the setting screw 63 against the pressure of spring 36. By means of shaft 27, also toothed gears 28 and 29 are displaced obliquely with respect to the slide bars 23 and 24. Owing to the oblique toothing 30 and 32, the toothed gear 28 is rotated through a predetermined angle which depends onthe angle of its oblique toothing 30 and its amount of displacement. The toothed gear 28 turns by the same amount by which it then displaces the sliding bar 24. Beyond that the angular movement of the toothed gear 29 effects a still further displacement of the sliding bar 24 by a further amount depending on the angle of its oblique toothing 31 and its amount of displacement.

As a result of this measure, the slide bar 24 and thereby the material support 45, and the material 46, are displaced a certain amount relative to the button clamp 17. The sewing material 46 now assumes the position relative to the button 54 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

In this mutual position of button 54 and material 46, the further fastening stitches are sewn. The material 46 folded about the material carrier 45 is no longer pierced through, but only partially penetrated.

At the end of the sewing operation, a cam secured to the control disk actuates in a known manner the switch lever 9. This lever then moves the drive belt 5 by means of the belt guide from the drive disk 8 to the idling disk 7. The machine is stopped by way of the brake that engages the drive disk 8.

The sewing material 46 with the button 54 sewn on may now be removed from the machine by raising the latch 43 and turning the material carrier 45 away from the machine.

After the spreading of the sewing material 46 to its nonnal position provided for supporting the finished garment, there results a seam formation as illustrated in FIG. 5. This figure shows that only one part of the sewing stitches has completely penetrated through the sewing material 46 and constitutes a wider base, while the remaining sewing stitches that pass only partly through the sewing material are located more closely together. In this manner a substantially smaller contraction is effected on the sewing material 46 during the following occurrence of the winding around the stud of the sewnon button 54 at the sewing location of the button 54 than heretofore. Thus, the formation of folds at this location is avoided to a large extent.

In the embodiment illustrated the cam track 57 of the cam disk 56 is shaped in a manner that during the sewing operation it guides two different relative positions between the material support 45 and the button clamp 17.

Finally, it would also be possible to construct the two sets of teeth between the toothed wheel 28 or 29 and the associated sliding bar 23, respectively 24 with different angles of inclination, or to design the interengagement between one toothed wheel and the associated sliding bar as a straight toothing arrangement and the toothing between the other toothed gear and the associated sliding bar with a correspondingly greater angle of inclination. In this connection, of course, there would be a greater frictional resistance to overcome between the toothed gears 28 and 29 for both of these solutions for displacement.

Having now described our invention with reference to the embodiment illustrated, what we desire to protect by letters patent is set forth in the appended claims.

We Claim:

1. A machine for sewing on buttons comprising a lower arm, a standard on said lower arm and a machine arm having a head supported by said standard, a needle bar supporting a needle below said head, slide bars extending longitudinally on said lower arm, a clamp support mounted on one slide bar and a button clamp member pivotally mounted at one end on said clamp support and extending with its other end below said needle, a control disk mounted on a shaft operated by the machine and linked to said clamp support by way of said one slide bar to effect horizontal movements of said one slide bar and said button clamp, a material su rt late ounted ximate aid lower arm fo m i l mer it relafive to saPci button c amp member, and

drive transfer means operatively linking said clamp support with said material support plate for effecting horizontal movements together therewith, said transfer means including a transmission comprising a shaft having gear teeth defining toothed gears, said slide bars having teeth meshing with said gear teeth, a second control cam disk operatively connected to said transmission, said second control cam disk being operatively linked to said gear shaft to effect a relative movement between said support of said button clamp and said material support plate in the direction of the common horizontal movement.

2. A machine in accordance with claim 1, where said one slide bar is connected to said clamp support and said second slide bar is linked to said material support plate, said slide bars extending parallel to one another, said shaft extending transversely of said toothed ends of said slide bars and being mounted for longitudinal displacement in a bearing disposed in said lower arm, at least one of said toothed gears and the toothed end of the slide bar connected therewith having obliquely extending teeth, and said shaft having a driving connection with said second control cam disk for displacing said shaft in axial direction.

3. A machine in accordance with claim 2, where said obliquely extending teeth of said toothed gears and their associated slide bars have the same size but extend in opposite directions. 

1. A machine for sewing on buttons comprising a lower arm, a standard on said lower arm and a machine arm having a head supported by said standard, a needle bar supporting a needle below said head, slide bars extending longitudinally on said lower arm, a clamp support mounted on one slide bar and a button clamp member pivotally mounted at one end on said clamp support and extending with its other end below said needle, a control disk mounted on a shaft operated by the machine and linked to said clamp support by way of said one slide bar to effect horizontal movements of said one slide bar and said button clamp, a material support plate mounted proximate said lower arm for movement relative to said button clamp member, and drive transfer means operatively linking said clamp support with said material support plate for effecting horizontal movements together therewith, said transfer means including a transmission comprising a shaft having gear teeth defining toothed gears, said slide bars having teeth meshing with said gear teeth, a second control cam disk operatively connected to said transmission, said second control cam disk being operatively linked to said gear shaft to effect a relative movement between said support of said button clamp and said material support plate in the direction of the common horizontal movement.
 2. A machine in accordance with claim 1, where said one slide bar is connected to said clamp support and said second slide bar is linked to said material support plate, said slide bars extending parallel to one another, said shaft extending transversely of said toothed ends of said slide bars and being mounted for longitudinal displacement in a bearing disposed in said lower arm, at least one of said toothed gears and the toothed end of the slide bar connected therewith having obliquely extending teeth, and said shaft having a driving connection with said second control cam disk for displacing said shaft in axial direction.
 3. A machine in accordance with claim 2, where said obliquely extending teeth of said toothed gears and their associated slide bars have the same size but extend in opposite directions. 